| ‘Fremont’: An Afghan immigrant tale set in a city of tiresome oddballs

Donya speaks Dari with fellow Afghans and English with her co-workers, but the cookie factory is run by people who talk to one another in Cantonese. These language differences underscore that Donya is a stranger in a complicated land.

“Fremont” has the demeanor of a kitchen-sink drama but is laced with deadpan absurdism. Shot in black and white and an almost-square screen format, the movie recalls the stark, fitfully comic 1980s work of Aki Kaurismaki and Jim Jarmusch. The eerily self-possessed Donya is reminiscent of Eva, the forthright Hungarian cousin whose arrival disrupts Jarmusch’s “In addition to work and home, Donya also makes regular visits to Dr. Anthony , a psychiatrist who offers pro bono counseling to refugees.

Among the protagonists’ other regular contacts: a cafe proprietor , who serves subtitled Turkish-TV soap operas along with dinner, and a middle-aged co-worker with an active if unsatisfying dating life. The latter character seems to be Jalali’s idea of a typical American, but at one point she unexpectedly sings an obscure 1970 tune by British cult folkie Vashti Bunyan — a musical aside that’s as improbable as the psychiatrist’s thing for “White Fang.”’s” Jeremy Allen White).

The best things in the movie are Laura Valladao’s lushly monochromatic cinematography, Mahmood Schricker’s mournful yet sometimes raucous ethno-jazz score and Zada’s quietly resolute performance. The oddball supporting characters are mostly just distracting. “Fremont” is poignant when it evokes Donya’s losses, the plight of the people she left behind in Afghanistan and the young woman’s modest hopes for the future.

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